China’s Jade Rabbit moon rover looks like being a massively expensive, hideous embarrassment.
It made it to the moon, then something stopped. Namely, it’s ability to shut down, which is a bad thing.
At least it had the sense of humour to admit its own failure, with this final message:
“Although I should’ve gone to bed this morning, my masters discovered something abnormal with my mechanical control system,” it wrote in a diary piece that was tweeted out.
“My masters are staying up all night working for a solution. I heard their eyes are looking more like my red rabbit eyes. Nevertheless, I’m aware that I might not survive this lunar night.”
The lunar night runs for 14, er, nights, as the Moon passes into shadow. Jade Rabbit has been unable to shut down, meaning that it will probably use up all its charge before the Sun hits it again.
Last night on the Daily Show, Patrick Stewart added his own take, which was predictably excellent: